2eighTZ4me

I was able to get a 91mm HG from Nissan through my buddy the parts guy. Compressed is .6mm - but since I have custom pistons for the stroker that don't protrude out of the cylinders, I should be in good shape. Doggiine $150 though...

Hey Derek - is it too late to get in on this? I'd like a black one with a silver Z. Let me know if these are still available!

THAT's the picture I was trying to find!!! Good one 280zx 2x2

That's good that you found an exhaust leak - but you may not be out of the woods just yet. A good bit of exhaust fumes can seep in under a bad hatch seal, bad taillight seal, or any other open orifice into the cabin. I have also found that using a 90 degree exhaust turndown at the end of the tailpipe does wonders to cure exhaust seepage. Point it at the ground. It may look retarded, but dang it works.

Finished porting the head over the Christmas holiday (the subject of another informational post for those that want to do their own porting) and the machine shop just finished up with a 5 angle valve job on it along with a quick skim over the surface for flatness. Picking up external oiler cam towers this evening and will be beginning on the cam wipe patterns over the weekend. Here's a couple shots during the porting process - a pre and a post. More to come....stay tuned! After -

That's kind of ironic. I have almost the exact same setup about to go in my car soon. Down to the piston coatings, diesel Max water pump etc. Just got my head back from the machine shop yesterday. Great looking car - and great work! I would recommend going to synthetic oil ASAP. You're past the break-in point and the synthetic oil will take the heat of the turbo much better than dinosaur oil. Don't get me wrong - I run Rotella 30 in everything BUT my turbo car and it's great oil - but you've got a lot of $$$ tied up in that motor - may as well feed it the best.

Did you get it connected yet? The problem I had was the wrong version of the MS code. It was ignoring the COM port. Update firmware to the latest level and do the same for the MegaTune or TunerStudio (whichever is your choice) and it should talk.

Screw it. Took it to the pros. We'll see what they found out. I ran out of hair to pull out.....

Another "tip" if you will - once the engine heat cycles a couple times, you'll want to go back and re-torque, as dissimilar metals will expand and contract under heat and can sometimes loosen themselves up. I always retorque after the engine cools after several trips up to operating temperature. There's usually a little "slop" in a few of the bolts. I also re-torque (just about everything on the car) before a track event.

Bore size is +/- 88mm. The JE pistons specs said 88mm on the box. I measured the cyl. bore and it came out to 89.5mm. I took a Fel-Pro and another HG that I had lying around and measured them. The FelPro was right at 90mm, and the other was 90.5mm. When I lay the gasket on the block, there is some "slop" in the dowels - such that I can move the gasket around a little bit on the surface. If I move it towards passenger side, I can run my finger up and down the bore and it won't catch on the head gasket. If I move it toward the driver side, my finger catches the lip of the gasket on the passenger side. The last thing I want in a high-boost turbo app is for the firing ring to be inside the cyl. causing detonation. My theory is that I have two options..... 1) Copper coat the HG and "stick" it to the block as far to the passenger side as possible, such that I can run my finger all the way around the bore and not catch ANY head gasket. 2) Buy a bigger head gasket. The measurements tell me I have about 1mm to work with, but spread across a 360 degree circle, that is a FINE line. What would you guys do? There used to be a 2mm thick overbored (91mm) HG on the market, but I think I got the last one from Courtesy for my stroker a couple years back. Does anyone know if there are any 1mm oversized bore HG's available?

Thanks for the reply Moby. I think I made a major boo-boo. In speaking with the guys at DIY - I mentioned that I had the "+" VR sensor wire spliced in to my tach (the tach in the dash) wire - that is a no-no. So, I'm going to cut it, run the + from the VR sensor to the "Tach" post on the relay board, and leave the tach in the dash disconnected until I get it running. Then I'll attempt setting up the tach driver on the board by jumpering those that you mentioned. It is extremely fortunate that I pass by DIY every day on the way to work, so I may just bring them my dash tach and the ECU and have them wire it up and get it working. I gotta admit - I'm in WAAAY over my head. Looking back on getting the fuel only portion working - it didn't seem that hard, but it sure did at the time I was trying to get it to work. Now that I'm going with spark too, it's a lot more involved than I thought it would be. I've been without spark for some 2 months now. But I guess I'll look back on it when it's all said and done and say " well - that wasn't too bad" - but in the interim I'm still poking at things in the dark with a blunt stick. There's also so many other features I'd like to explore/unlock, but reading the manual gives me a headache and occasional heartburn - it's not really written for the lay-man.

No Dremel for sure - a Sawzall with a metal cutting blade would do the trick quite nicely if a band saw weren't available.

No Dremel for sure - a Sawzall with a metal cutting blade would do the trick quite nicely if a band saw weren't available.

Hey Jeff - no threadjack problems at all. The HPV-1 only has the capability of setting initial timing, timing at 3000rpm, and either +/- 8 degrees from 3000-8000 rpms. I just didn't have enough flexibility with being a boosted application. If it were an NA car - it would be perfect, but I need to be able to control timing a lot more strictly under boost - and the MS was the only way (cheaply) to do it, as I'm already running MS for fuel. I have not removed the VR sensor at all during the conversion. I followed the DIY guys' advice by gapping the sensor to wheel with a business card. It's maybe .010" or .012" at best - which is about where I had it whilst running the HPV-1. My intent is to hook the HPV-1 back up and see if I can get fire. If so - I know my VR sensor is good and sending output. If not - I've got 4 spares I can work with!

I've read through just about every sticky, and any related posts I could find, but can't seem to find what I need to get this going. I swapped from an Electromotive HPV-1 setup to the TEC-3 coil pack setup. The HPV-1 has its' own "smarts" built in, the TEC-3 is basically a 3x coil pack that requires something else to drive it. Running MSII with the latest code. I have the BIP373 coil drivers installed, and I've got power to each of them on the relay board. The trigger wheel on the crank and the VR sensor are still on the car - they worked fine with the HPV-1 - and should do the trick with driving the TEC-3 coil packs. (???) I've been working with the guys at DIY AutoTune, but I just don't have the tools or smarts that they do, and I think I'm getting on their nerves. They're saying that I should see tach activity in TunerStudio when cranking the car over. I am not seeing any at all. They said that's the primary indicator that the system is hooked up properly. I worked with the DIY guys to upgrade to the MSII board running on the 3.0 version of the PCB. We got it talking to the JimStim, and it shows RPM using the stim board. I'm almost leaning toward a wiring issue, or a bad VR sensor. I have dropped the sensitivity of the VR sensor on the main PCB by turning the pots all the way counterclockwise, and still no spark/tach. The DIY guys also confirmed my settings are correct for the trigger wheel I'm using. I know this may be a bit of an odd setup, which is why I posted - on the outside chance someone has done this similar swap. I don't really know what information to provide at this point. I can post screenshots etc. if need be. Here's how the wiring is done. VR sensor = 3 prong. Red wire goes to Tach post on Relay Board. Black wire goes to CLT Ret. post, bare wire goes to IAT Ret. post. (Note - the tach wire ALSO has a wire spliced inline to feed the physical tach inside the car - not sure if this is an issue or not - perhaps negating the VR sensor's input??) Coil packs = 4 wires. Hot lead is hooked to a switched 12V source. Each of the remaining 3 leads is hooked to posts S3, S4, and S5 on the relay board - as they should be. The TEC3 coil packs have a ground strap on the base of the unit. That is grounded to the same post the battery is grounded to. By all means - I should be getting spark - even if it isn't timed correctly - I should still get spark. I do not. Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

If you're running a stock tachometer - you'll need the MSD8910 tach adapter. If you're running an AutoMeter or other brand aftermarket tach, you should be able to pull from the tach output on the MSD box.

Of which I will do scant little. BOV and Wastegate can be taken care of with different spring pressures and the boost controller to a certain degree. There are only X number of sizes of each. Again - I'm NOT competing - I'm having fun. I used to race dirt bikes and liken the boost threshold to when the bike "comes on the pipe". The intake is a Lonewolf - and is probably way too large for the application - but it's what I have. I have not the knowledge or cash to "optimize intercooler size and tubing lengths" (you also forgot to mention tubing size as well). I have an AZC intercooler - and a finite amount of engine compartment space. All the tubing/IC/BOV/WG have already been mounted. I blew up my Garrett turbo, and bought a SSA T3/T4 hybrid. This thread is to focus on the underlying powerplant that will be sandwiched in between all the existing components. I'm not looking to re-engineer the whole car (been there, done that) - but rather build a "reliable" powerplant with some good internals. As time goes on, I will eventually upgrade the turbo (heck - may not even do that if this one holds up). My power goal is well within range of the current hardware I have, and I'm really not in to "sweating the details" because I'm not racing the clock or other competitors. Best I would potentially do is downgrade the TB - but even then, it's only a 60mm 240SX unit, and I have no driveability issues with it currently with the mule motor under the hood. Not looking to turn this thread into a "turbo efficiency theory" and how much I can squeeze out of it - I'm just posting what's going on in the garage presently. I've got a good bit of seat time in the car (it's street legal and tagged as well) and am very comfortable with the amount of power and throttle response it currently has. It has no problem getting out of its' own way - or mostly anybody else's for that matter. Don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I've seen sooo many threads just fly so far off topic - and folks wonder why they can't find stuff on this site when they "search" - yeah - it's out there - but not in the places you'd expect! P.S. - and yes Mario - it stands up to heat just fine. I believe they mention it in the "How to Build" book - and I've seen (I think) TonyD mention it a few times as well

Having seen Pete's thread on his build, I thought I'd piggyback along with what's going on in my garage. F54 block P90 head V07 stroker crank 240Z 9mm rods JE custom dished pistons Custom Delta Cams grind camshaft Port work etc..... we'll get down into the details here in a bit. Goal is reliability. I'm not looking to spin 8k rpm, nor am I competing - I run with NASA and just go out and have a fun time and don't want to worry if I happen to "exceed" a threshold. I also don't have to worry about rules, as I'm only running HPDE. I wish I had started taking pictures way back when, but I DID film the whole assembly process of building the bottom end that I am still editing. Only have a few pics right now - but many more to follow. I hope to get bits of the video on YouTube. Annnnnd heeeere we go! First - the slugs. A little about them. JE custom (that ironically, I bought from the guy I bought the car from.....3 years later) forged - of course, 88mm bore, dished for a turbo application - double spiro-locks. Teflon coated on the sides and ceramic coated on the tops (thanks to James from Lonewolf Performance). They were designed for a stroker setup, so they have a lower pin height than stock (35mm I believe?? from memory) - so there is no piston poking out of the block at TDC, AND no need for a (expeeeeeensive) 2mm headgasket. Rods have been magnafluxed and shot peened and balanced to within .5 gram tolerances on both ends. Pistons were spot on the money across the board. Note - the spiro-locks are NOT in the pistons in this pic. OK - on to the block. First order - remove all the nasty casting flash left behind from the factory. This increases the speed of oil flow off the walls of the block back into the pan. Note all the ridges and seams. Using a die grinder, a carbide bit, and a LOT of time, here's the end product. Notice all the ridges and seams are gone and we have a nice, even, smooth surface across all cylinders. Next step - Glyptal....... Glyptal is an electricians paint that is impervious to oil and other chemicals. Dries hard as a rock and provides a smooth surface - i.e. even better oil flow back to the pan. Getting dried Glyptal off your hands is no fun chore either. Once it's on there - it's ON there. I've run out of pics for now - but a little rundown. I eventually went back and notched the bottom of the cylinders on the block once I got the crank and pistons back from the machine shop. This notching allows a little more clearance between the big end of the rod and the block - as we ARE dealing with 4mm more stroke. Used a die grinder and took out about 1-2mm of material from the underside of the block where the rod's sweep is. Painted back over it with - you guessed it - Glyptal. Crank was in great shape. Had it polished and cleaned and drilled for hex plugs in the oil passages. Factory Nissan standard size bearings. The bottom end is completely together at this point, but will add more detail to this thread as I get deeper in to it. Head is in the middle of being ported right now - wanna talk about tedious work?? Sheesh!! As you probably imagined, this is going in the car in my sig pic. There's a mule motor in there now out of a 79 ZX with 130K on it already. I've shown it 22psi of boost already and she STILL keeps chuggin' along. MsNs - 3" intercooler piping and intercooler, Lonewolf intake, T3/T4 hybrid turbo, custom 3" downpipe and 3" mandrel bent exhaust to a Borla XR-1 muffler. Tial wastegate and Turbosmart RacePort BOV. All fired off by Electromotive coil packs. More pics to follow....

Logic would say that Brad-Man is right on the money. If you've got a wideband - you're golden anyways.I have a very similar setup and used cygnus's base tune to get going with and it worked fine. I was only using it for fuel, but now I am in the process of converting it over to spark too. His spark table is still present, so I'll have to see what happens once I get this darn thing running. (Idiot me can't figure out the crank angle sensor trigger points - although I think I have it and will know yay or nay later tonight).

The EVO is a similar sized seat to my Recaro. My Recaro was a bit of a pain to get in because it is a full halo seat. Clearances were almost non-existant, but with careful measuring and drilling/cutting, I was able to make it fit. I used some channel steel that I got at Home Depot. I'm assuming your EVO seat is a "bottom" mount and does not have side mount brackets? My Recaro is a side mount - as is the Momo in the passenger side, so your install may be considerably different. Can you tell us if it's a bottom or side mount?

Yeah - be glad you don't have a rollcage to deal with!

Oil is leaking past the shaft seals in the turbo with that much play - turbine side.. Evidenced by oil all in the upstream components. How did you break the turbo in? Did you pressurize the oil line prior to starting it? How about keeping the compressor wheel from turning on the first 5 min. of startup? Do you let the car idle for a few minutes after you've been romping on it? I have a cheap SSAutoChrome turbo (after grenading my Garrett) and it's been holding up fine so far (knock on wood). Seems that following proper startup and shutdown (and breakin) procedures can lengthen the life of the turbo.

Car is a 5/78. Would like to have the frame rail as well if possible, but if not, you can see the "main" area that I need. If frame rail is avalable - the further down the better. The whole passenger side pan/rail will have to be replaced eventually anyways. Thanks!

They're 10x1.5 - probably 4 inches would do ya. I use old main cap bolts - perfect size for my particular stand.